Len Bentley after his KO victory on Aug 7th, 2010

At the close of the final bout on Saturday night's M-1 Selection Americas 2010 - Americas Semi Finals at Bally's Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, frenzied fight fans bore witness to stellar performances as the tournament's Finals round matchups materialized. 

The Americas Final round presents a stellar card of returnees with only one victory standing between the fighter and the title of M-1 Selection Champion in their respective weight classes. "Tonight's performances were overall astounding," says Evgeni Kogan, M-1's Director of Operations. "The MMA world is going to have to take notice of our next generation superstar fighters. If the Semi's presented this high a level of excitement, the Finals are going to be that much better."

Results for the semi-final round bouts:
Byron Byrd def. Sammy Collingwood - :40 of round 1 via TKO
Jose Figueroa def. Josh Thorpe - via unanimous decision
George Sheppard def. Josh Baccallao - via split decision
Len Bentley def. Colin Schrader - 1:45 of round 2 via KO
Daniel Vizcaya def. Chris Sydnor - 202 of round 1 via submission (head & arm choke)
Mike Geurin def. Shane Primm - unanimous decision
Pat Bennett def. Mehdi Hassan - unanimous decision
Tyson Jeffries def. Plinio Cruz - via split decision
Kenny Garner def. Andrei Kapilou - via unanimous decision
Tom Gallicchio def. Aaron Meisner - Round 3 via submission (RNC)

PRE-FIGHT INTERVIEW WITH LEN BENTLEY

What can you tell us about M-1?
M-1 has been around for a while. They have had events all over the world including Europe and Asia. People are starting to get familiar with the name M-1 due to their partnership with Strikeforce and the rise of Fedor Emelianenko.

Tell us how this fight came about.
The match maker who put together my fight in Mississippi called Dennis [Hallman], said someone had got hurt and called about another fighter (Wesley Welch) and asked could he make 170. Dennis said he could not, but Len can. He told him that I was in shape and was helping him get ready for his upcoming [UFC] fight against Ben Saunders. Paul said that he would love to have me on the show.

Will this fight be in a ring or a cage?
It's in ring so a little different. I have only fought in a ring a couple time. 2 times for SportFight, and 1 for my fight in Canada. I have also had 1 boxing match. I don't care, both have pros and cons. I love the cage but I do 90% of my training in the ring. I am good a cutting the ring off. I look forward to using it in this fight. We have been getting ready for weeks. We steeped it up hardcore about 6 weeks ago. We train everyday but Sunday. It's our job.

What do you know about your opponent?
Not much his name is Colin Schrader and he is 3-0 from Jersey. From research he has a Jiu-jitsu background. I am not sure who he trains with. It doesn't matter. He better be ready to fight! I am known for all or nothing.

The M-1 Selection Americas Finals will return to Bally's Casino Hotel in Atlantic City on September 18, 2010 with tournament bracket winners going head-to-head to earn the title of the M-1 Selection 2010 Champion; the event will also feature super-bouts to be announced shortly and undercard matchups featuring return trips to the M-1 ring by Selection tournament standouts.

The "M-1 Selection" is the world's premiere MMA competition where the next generation of superstars are given the opportunity to showcase their skills on the world stage with fighters being eliminated after only one loss; victory will advance the winning fighters throughout the tournament and earn them a trip to the championship event where they will compete for the coveted "M-1 Selection" title.

The "M-1 Selection" tournament is broken down into global regions: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Americas with each region hosting three rounds and a final of the "M-1 Selection" tournament. The winning fighter in each weight class will gain the opportunity to fight on the larger international stage.

About M-1 Global
Founded in 1998 by Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world's next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand stages its M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Breakthrough events worldwide and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States; captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups.

M-1 Global's greatest asset is the number one heavyweight fighter in mixed martial arts history, Fedor Emelianenko. With daily coverage on all MMA-related websites in the world, and articles in Time Magazine, LA times and New York times, Fedor and M-1 Global make a lifetime match serving as the catalyst to grow MMA in the 21st century.